The following events occurred in July 1943:
July 1, 1943 (Thursday) The death sentence, for treason, of German-born American Max Stephan was commuted by U.S. President Roosevelt to life imprisonment, seven hours before Stephan was to be hanged. Stephan had been convicted of harboring a German prisoner of war who had escaped from a POW camp in Ontario."Traitor Saved by President", Milwaukee Journal, July 2, 1943, p1 The United States Women's Army Corps (WAC) was converted to full status, changing its name from the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, and U.S. Army Major Oveta Culp Hobby was the first Director.Jerry K. Sweeney, A Handbook of American Military History: From the Revolutionary War to the Present (University of Nebraska Press, May 1, 2006) p216 The Nurse Training Act was passed by the United States Congress, creating the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.Barbara Brooks Tomblin, G.I. Nightingales: The Army Nurse Corps in World War II (University Press of Kentucky, 2003) p190 Adolf Eichmann was granted full authority by Martin Bormann to use the Gestapo in enforcement of "the permanent elimination of Jews from the territories of Greater Germany"."Bormann, Martin", in Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, by Leslie Alan Horvitz and Christopher Catherwood (Infobase Publishing, 2009) p49 U.S. forces defeated the Japanese in the three-day Battle of Viru Harbor on the island of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese loss was 61 soldiers of its 245 soldiers killed and the U.S. lost 13. Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Antonescu met with the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome and pleaded with him to lead a bid by the countries aligned with Germany to leave the Axis. Mussolini refused to commit to the plan. An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus, a six-volume secret report compiled by the Population and Race Section of the Research Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare, was completed and submitted to the Prime Minister, setting the blueprint for imposing Japanese names, the Japanese language and the Shinto religion on all minorities within the Empire.Ben Kiernan, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur (Yale University Press, 2009) p482 Tokyo City was administratively merged with its prefecture to form the special wards of Tokyo.
July 2, 1943 (Friday) New Georgia, the largest of the Solomon Islands controlled by Japan, was invaded by the U.S. 37th and 43rd Infantry divisions, striking from Rendova Island and beginning the Drive on Munda Point. After fierce resistance from the Japanese occupiers for more than a month and thousands of casualties on both sides, the New Georgia airfield at Munda would be captured on August 5, and the entire island would be secured by August 25.Spencer C. Tucker, A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East (ABC-CLIO, 2009) p1998
July 3, 1943 (Saturday) The new town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, constructed for workers on the secret atomic bomb project, had its first residents arrive, as a family moved into a trailer on the 92 square mile area. Within two years, it would have 75,000 people, but its existence would be kept hidden until after World War II."Mystery Town Cradled Bomb", LIFE Magazine, August 20, 1945, p94 The three day Battle of Wickham Anchorage at Vangunu in the Solomon Islands ended in a U.S. victory over the Japanese Army, with 25 Americans and 141 Japanese killed. The German submarines U-126, with 55 crew, and U-628, with 49, were both depth charged and sunk northwest of Cape Ortegal, Spain by British aircraft. There were no survivors. U-628 had sunk 24 merchant ships and a Royal Navy landing craft. "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer" by The Song Spinners topped the Billboard singles chart. Born: Kurtwood Smith, American film and TV actor known for Robocop and That '70s Show;, in New Lisbon, Wisconsin Judith Durham, Australian singer (The Seekers); in Essendon, Victoria (d. 2022)
July 4, 1943 (Sunday) Subhas Chandra Bose became the new President of the Indian Independence League, which was meeting in the Cathay Theater in Japanese-occupied Singapore.Sugata Bose, His Majesty's Opponent (Harvard University Press, 2012) p3 The American Forces Radio Network (which became the United States Armed Forces Network) was created to broadcast from 55 low-power transmitters near areas in the United Kingdom where American servicemen were stationed.Burton Paulu, British Broadcasting: Radio and Television in the United Kingdom (University of Minnesota Press, 1956) p395 The British troopship City of Venice was torpedoed and sunk north of Ténès, Algeria by German submarine U-409. All but 22 of the 158 crew of the ship survived, with 20 of the crew dying when their lifeboat capsized. Born: Geraldo Rivera, American reporter and talk show host; in Brooklyn, New York City Died: General Władysław Sikorski, 62, Prime Minister of Poland 1922–1923, leader of the Polish government-in-exile after the German conquest of 1939, was killed in a plane crash along with 14 other people including British Army Brigadier General J. P. Whitehead, a British MP, leading to a controversy over his death.
July 5, 1943 (Monday) The Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, began when Germany launched an attack on the Soviet city of Kursk with 20 infantry divisions and 3,000 tanks. Two days later, the Soviet Union launched a counteroffensive against the Germans. By the time the battle ended on August 5, the Germans had lost 70,000 men and 2,900 of the 3,000 tanks.Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1943 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997) p53; William L. Hosch, ed. World War II: People, Politics, and Power (Rosen Publishing Group, 2009) p119"Monster Tanks Are Hurled Into Battle by Nazis and Reds on Belgorod Front", Milwaukee Journal, July 9, 1943, p1 The American and Japanese navies fought the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands."Navy Reports Damage to Jap Ships as Surface Units Battle in Kula Gulf", Milwaukee Journal, July 6, 1943, p1; "Six Japanese Ships 'Probably Sunk', Four Damaged in Battle of Kula Gulf", Milwaukee Journal, July 7, 1943, p1 The battle was inconclusive, with Japan succeeding in landing 1,600 troops at Vila. The lost 2 destroyers and 324 people, 300 of whom were on the Niizuki , while the U.S. Navy lost the light cruiser USS Helena and 168 of the ship's crew. The American destroyer USS Strong was sunk, with the loss of 46 of its crew, in the Kula Gulf by the Japanese destroyer Niizuki and shore batteries. The torpedo from Niizuki was fired from a distance of (11 nautical miles) for the longest-range torpedo kill in history. The German submarine U-535 was depth charged and sunk northeast of Cape Finisterre, Spain by a B-24 Liberator of No. 53 Squadron RAF, with the loss of its 48 crew. Film actress Betty Grable was married to bandleader Harry James at a ceremony in Las Vegas."Grable, Betty", in The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, And Canada in World Wars I And II, James Ciment and Thaddeus Russell, ed. (ABC-CLIO, 2006) p602 Born: Robbie Robertson, Canadian musician and songwriter for The Band; in Toronto (d. 2023)
July 6, 1943 (Tuesday) The town of Boise City, Oklahoma was mistakenly bombed by a U.S. Army Air Forces plane that had taken off from the nearby Dalhart Army Air Base in Texas. The pilot, sent on a training mission to drop explosives on a practice range near Conlen, Texas, got off course, mistook Boise City for the range, and dropped five bombs on the town. Although there was slight damage to buildings, nobody was injured, and the air raid was stopped after the town was blacked out by an alert power plant worker."U.S. Airman, Off the Beam, Bombed Oklahoma Town", Milwaukee Journal, July 7, 1943, p1 The two-day Battle of Kula Gulf between U.S. and Japanese warships off the island of Kolombangara ended inconclusively. Yeshwantrao Holkar II, the 33-year-old Maharaja of Indore, described as "one of the wealthiest men in the world", was granted a divorce from his American wife, the Maharanee Margaret Lawlor, in proceedings in Reno, Nevada."Maharaja Is Divorced", Milwaukee Journal, July 6, 1943, p1
July 7, 1943 (Wednesday) Southern Airways was incorporated by Frank Hulse and Ike Jones, in order to seek approval from the Civil Aeronautics Board to operate a civilian airline after the end of World War II. In later years, the company would merge with another carrier to become Republic Airlines, which would then be acquired by Northwest Airlines,Geoff Jones, Northwest Airlines: The First Eighty Years (Arcadia Publishing, 2005) p67 which in turn would be acquired by Delta Air Lines. Reverend Jóhannes Gunnarsson became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Iceland since the Reformation, in services held in Washington, D.C."First Bishop to Iceland", Milwaukee Journal, July 6, 1943, p1 Died: Rudolph Forster, 70, Chief Clerk of the White House Executive Offices since 1897. His obituary described him as "virtually unknown to the public, but for 46 years highly esteemed and frequently honored by the nation's presidents", and he served for eight U.S. Presidents, from William McKinley to Franklin D. Roosevelt."Presidents' Able Assistant Is Dead", Milwaukee Journal, July 8, 1943, p2
July 8, 1943 (Thursday) The Jamaica Labour Party, which rivals the People's National Party, was founded by Alexander Bustamante."JLP Commemorates 69th Anniversary", The Gleaner (Kingston), July 8, 2012 The German submarine U-514 was lost with all 54 of its crew near Cape Finisterre after being struck by rockets from an RAF B-24 bomber. Born: Joel Siegel, American film critic for Good Morning America; in Los Angeles (d. 2007); Guido Marzulli, Italian painter; in Bari Died: Sir Harry Oakes, 68, American-born British entrepreneur, was found beaten to death in his mansion in Nassau in the Bahamas. The search for Oakes, described once as one of the two wealthiest men in America, was made after he failed to appear for a scheduled golf game with the Duke of Windsor, the former King who had become the British Governor of the Bahamas. The case was never solved, and the murderer of Oakes was never discovered."The real-life murder case behind Any Human Heart", by William Boyd, The Guardian (Manchester), November 12, 2010 Jean Moulin, 44, a leader of the French Resistance against the Nazi German occupation of France, died after being tortured by the Nazi Gestapo. Edward Haight, 17, became the youngest person to ever die in the electric chair in New York, as he was executed for the September murder of two young girls ten months earlier."Boy, 17, Electrocuted for Killing Two Girls", Milwaukee Journal, July 9, 1943, p2 Levi Mosley, a seasonal farm laborer, died in a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. When Mosley failed to report to his local draft board in December, the FBI would be called in and begin a nine-year search for Mosley, which would not end until 1953 when his death was discovered."Man Was Not Draft Dodger, Merely Died", St. Petersburg Times, November 24, 1953 p10
July 9, 1943 (Friday) A German air raid killed 108 people, many of them children, in a movie theater, in the British town of East Grinstead. Schoolchildren were inside the Whitehall Cinema, watching a Hopalong Cassidy film, when air raid sirens sounded. At 5:17 pm, a wave of German bombers struck the town, leveling the theater with one bomb, followed by a second. Another 235 people were seriously injured."East Grinstead bombing – 65 years on", The Argus (Brighton, East Sussex, UK), June 25, 2008; "Nazi Bombs Bury Children Watching Movie in England", Milwaukee Journal, July 10, 1943, p2